Page 21 - Indiginous Australians

Mary Alp
1988 Bob Hawkes promise of a Treat by 1990 but this controversial term caused
alarm – including notions about possible financial compensation & was therefore
82
shelved. It was then called a ’document of reconciliation’, ‘Makarrata’ or
compact.
1991 Hawke sets up the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody (RCADIC). This commission was a result of public concern ‘that such deaths were too common & poorly explained’. The commission’s recommendations are still valid today but very few have been implemented. Every year Aboriginal people
83
continue to die in custody.
As mentioned before when speaking of George
Floyd’s death in the US in 2020, in Australia there have been a further 430
Aboriginal deaths in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission. There have been
84
1992 Paul Keating’s Redfern Speech. This was the first acknowledgement by a Prime Minister of the ‘ongoing oppression colonization had imposed on Indigenous people’ Naming & owning our actions & our responsibility
85
1997 Report on the Stolen Generation – Bringing them Home- is released. This Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission’s report was implemented by the Keating government & was received by the Howard government. However, its 54 recommendations were largely unfulfilled because the government was skeptical
86
of the reports findings. It is estimated that between 10 – 33% of Aboriginal
87
no convictions.
underpinned this expose`.
children were separated from their families between 1910 – 1970.
The report
called the separation/forced removal of children from their families as a ‘gross
88
violation of their human rights’. Today it is alarming to note that more children
are being taken from their families than during the Stolen Generation period – in
82 R.Broome,,Ibid, pp274-279,258-287; Australians Together, ‘A lack of a treaty’.
83 Creative Spirits, Royal Commission into aboriginal deaths in custody .
84 Lindaburney.com.au ’We have our own serious issue with deaths in custody-Linda Burney MP; abc.news.au ‘Indigenous advocates call for more legal education in wake of George Floyd death, Black Lives matter Movement’. 85 Wikipedia, Redfern Speech.
86 Australians together.org.au,’The Stolen Generation.
87 Human rights,com.au,’Bringing them Home 2007 report update.
88 Sbs.com.au, Ibid; Wikipedia ‘Bringing them home’.
21 | P a g e